Friday, June 2, 2017

Most Americans have not heard of Paul Ricoeur, but he is a giant of late 20th century French thought. President Macron was his assistant for two years. Eileen Brennan tells how this this explains some of the apparently contradictory things that Macron has said and recalls Barack Obama's vision of transcending the partisan divide.

Almost all French thought looks like sophistry from the Anglo-American pov. Different ways of looking at reality. Not just French either. Most foreign thought looks not only alien but also lacking to most Americans and British intelligentsia unless they know other languages and cultures and can tell what is going on.

This is trying to see more substance behind the man than there really is. Time will tell, but I will bet on this being just an other pro-status quo shill.

There is no such thing as "radical centrism" understood as "radicalism = reform/change". First and foremost, because at the core of centrist is neoclassical economics, how radical can you be when all you got is the status quo?

The problem of France or the EU is not "supply side" which is what people like Macron are trying to sell, and their understanding of a fiat monetary economy still is wholly inadequate when not plain disingenuous.

There is nothing there, sorry.

Oh, and i'm not "anglo-saxon", been in France several times, know french people, etc. if that's good for something.

There is a good tradition of "centrists" thinkers and philosophers in the XX century in France, Ricoeur is not the only one, and yes there is a lot of sophistry behind them, they are/were basically pro-status quo.

Let me correct: is not just in France, there is a lot of "centrists" (aka neolibs) thinkers in all continental Europe, I believe this was a natural reaction against leftists/far-left thinkers during the second half of XX century, and because, naturally, the far-right was rejected West of the Berlin Wall.

We know how the rest of the story goes as neoliberalism dominated and felt empowered after the Soviet collapse the last decades of the XX century and now the XXI century.

One can see some merit to centrism when things were good for the proletariat in Europe a few decades ago, but no more, now is just an other reactionary force of suburban profesional class and the elites above them.